Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Back To School: Go Green Lunchbox Review!

Today's lunch is packed in one of the newest additions to our lunch gear collection, the Go Green Lunch Box! It's pretty neat! It has some great features that I'll get to after the lunch...

The first lunch in any new lunchbox should always be a little bit fun, and since Birdie was watching Happy Feet, I packed her lunch full of penguins :)


Birdie loves if there is a family of any sort in her lunch, so in the top left she has a daddy, mama & baby penguin. Daddy Penguin is a peanut butter sandwich with a sugar eye. Mama Penguin is a banana biscuit. And Baby Penguin is cheese. Next to them penguin picks skewer grapes & red plums. The bottom sections hold carrot coins & stars, a fish-shaped egg, & yogurt topped with fish-shaped sprinkles. Penguin food! She has water to drink.


Birdie just loved the baby penguin made of cheese :)


Isn't he cute? 

       

Now, back to the lunch box!

Go Green generously gave me one of their Go Green Lunch Box sets to review! This chart from the Go Green website highlights some of the features:


I should mention that I have the new improved version that just came out. I don't have an original version to compare, but looking at photos, the the only thing that stands out as noticeably different (to me) is the lid - the new version has silicone coated locking tabs, while it appears the original lid doesn't have that feature. It's a good feature, I think it will help prevent breakage should the box be dropped, as well as make it more comfortable to close than plain hard plastic. Here's a closer look at the rubbery-coated locking tabs:


Another great feature is on the other side of the lid - individual seals! The contents of each section are kept separate by dividers with silicone band seals. You can also see the underside of the lock in the centre of the lunchbox lid. When it's locked the lid will not come off the box even if the locking tabs are unsnapped. Tip: We find it much easier to snap down the lid's locking tabs if we turn the lid lock to Close first. 


The lid is attached to the food tray by retaining clips - little strings that clip together with a clasp. These I don't "get".  I could totally see a well-meaning lunchroom aide not noticing the lid and bottom were attached and lifting it straight up instead of up and back as if on a hinge - and the whole lunch tipping forward onto my kidlet as the lid lifted the box with it. Fortunately, they easily un-clip if you don't want to use them. I'll probably take ours right off.


The carrying case is cute! Like a little suitcase. Okay, maybe not so little...  at 13 x 8½ x 3½" this lunchbox is by far the largest we own. The pattern on ours is called "Prepster". When Bella saw it, she asked "Is that a Nancy Drew case?" She loves Nancy Drew stories and recently saw the film. I suppose the tartan is very Nancy Drew-ish... :)


The insulated case has a white board for leaving messages and a mesh pocket for an ice pack or accessories. I've slipped a Lunchbox Love note under the frame and packed a GreenPax Cool Straw & a Light My Fire spork in the mesh pocket. An ice pack is NOT included - I show one here so you can see the lunch box fits over it with the lid still able to close & zip.


The carrying case is surface clean only though, which means I can't let Pickle take it, he's much too messy. While I wouldn't expect any spillage from the lunch box into the carrier, my kids do get their hands messy, and lunch aides might not close the box properly or think to pack the soiled utensils inside it... 


The lunch box comes with a stainless steel Go Green water bottle. It doesn't have a spout top - it looked like the old version came with a different style bottle top - instead, the lid unscrews for drinking right from the mouth of the bottle. The lid on ours is squeaky... I don't know if it's because it's new, or if that's common to this style of lid, or if it will go away with use, but worth mentioning in case you are like me and squeaks give you goosebumps :) 
Update - This has become one of our favourite drink holders. It no longer squeaks, and the size is perfect. The wide mouth makes cleaning easy and the kids like to drink from it. Yay!

Go Green Lunch Box
Things I love:
  • Lots of compartments
  • Individual seals on each compartment!
  • 2 easy to clean pieces 
  • Breakage resistant silicone-coated tab edges
  • Locking clip lets my kidlet know the lid is on good :)
  • White board for notes - fun!
Things I'm not keen on (+ update Jan 2014):
  • Lid strap-clip things (I just don't use them)
  • Squeaky lid to water bottle (Resolved itself )
  • Carrying case not machine washable (Hasn't been an issue, no mess escapes the box) 
  • Lid is not dishwasher-safe (But rinses easily)
All the awesome things about the lunch box more than cancel out those minor complaints, and overall, I like it a lot!
The Go Green Lunch Box is Sproutlet Approved :)

11 comments:

  1. The penguin family is adorable!!

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  2. Love your family of cute cute penguins! :D

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  3. Love the penguins! Neat review. It's always nice to encounter new product reviews. Opens up new options to consider when packing meals on the go.

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  4. Darnit! Now I want one too!

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  5. I want one too! cute cheesy penguins. :)

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  6. The penguin is adorable!

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  7. Anonymous1/02/2013

    is this easy to open for a new kindergaten child?

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    Replies
    1. Easy to open, yes, but might take a bit of practice to put back on - it does have to be lined up just right to snap the lid clips back down. Locking it first makes that a lot easier though.

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  8. Great review! Thanks a lot!

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  9. Does it fit into a backpack ok? It seems very large.

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    Replies
    1. It fits into our Land End & JanSport backpacks with room for at least a binder & a textbook, but we haven't carried it with more than that yet. Even in the carry bag it's not too big - it's the same depth & height as most soft suitcase-style character lunchboxes, it's just longer to accomodate the drink.

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